report in the provincial legislature
28 November 2007
Mr Speaker, in my 13 years in this Legislature, today must be the most
difficult of them all. I have listened to Honourable member Yusuf Gabru, the
Chairperson of the ad hoc committee; take this house through the report of the
committee and to the Honourable member Skwatsha. I have listened to his advice
to me that the most appropriate response I can give is to accept the report and
to apologise for my role in the events that led to the report.
Mr Speaker, in my 13 years in public life, I had four occasions which
required of me to apologise. I remember each one clearly. The first was just
before Christmas 1994 when a computer malfunction resulted in over 100 000
pensioners almost not receiving their pensions by Christmas. The second was a
painful one when Thobeka Madayi, a resident of Khayelitsha died in a
wheelbarrow outside a health facility that didn't open its doors to her. The
third was when on behalf of the ANC I apologised to Dr Neil Barnard for
defamation issues and the fourth occasion was when as Chairperson of the ANC, I
referred to my political opponents as coconuts.
On all these occasions I struggled with my conscience between the temptation
of justifying my actions or taking responsibility. I took responsibility on all
four occasions and apologised. Today represents another such moment. The
question I am grappling with is whether my response to the ad hoc committee's
report falls in the same category as the three occasions I described where my
apologising was not only appropriate, but absolutely necessary.
Since I have read the report, seen its popular interpretation in the media
and heard the undiluted joy in the comments of the opposition, I have had to
weigh up whether my response was to be a legal one to be fought out in the
courts by lawyers, or whether my response must be a political one where the
Premier speaks to the Legislature and puts his fate in the hands of his
peers.
This has been a difficult episode to live through from the time this house
unanimously accepted the resolution to establish the ad hoc committee, through
every step in the unfolding processes of the work of the ad hoc committee,
including the difficult decision about whether to go to court and to challenge
the composition of the ad hoc committee, right up to the conclusion of the
Committee's Report that I knowingly made three incorrect statements. More
difficult than all of that was the fact that last Friday, for the first time in
my public life, I actively hid a newspaper from my family so that, in their
estimation, one malicious cartoon does not undo the other work that I believe
we do to the best of our ability.
At such moments the confident voices of one's legal team is a very seductive
option: 'Go to court to clear your name'. And, indeed, I believe that their
arguments have enormous merit:
* Why did the ad hoc committee choose to judge this matter on the balance of
probabilities and not rather apply the higher test that the matter should be
proved beyond reasonable doubt?
* Why did the ad hoc committee not actively pursue who else could have misled
this House despite amending the resolution to investigate broader than just the
Premier?
* Was the evidence presented by the Premier and his witnesses given the due
recognition and treatment it deserved to ascertain what was in the mind of the
Premier, and
* Were the conclusions of the Report consistent with both the mandate of the
committee and all the evidence in front of the committee?
But today the overriding concern I must have as premier, and not as Ebrahim
Rasool, is about how long the province can still bear the tension between its
premier, its legislature and its auditor general?
The concern I must have is about getting past a matter that distracts from our
central mission to build a better life for all our people. In order to answer
these questions, and to subject the personal pride of Ebrahim Rasool to the
political responsibility of the premier, I have discussed this matter within
the ANC. Out of these consultations I have no doubt that I must be central to
resolving the institutional tension between the office of the premier, the
legislature and the auditor general. I have no doubt that I must be central to
refocus our undivided attention in the rest of this term to continued and
accelerated delivery to our people. I have no doubt that I must play my role in
getting the ANC ready for 2009.
This political resolution is a difficult one when you cannot completely
accept every detail and implication of the ad hoc committee's conclusion. But
my role today is limited:
* I can regret that the ad hoc committee did not adequately investigate
whether Mr Carlisle misled the house, but I can only leave that matter to Mr
Carlisle's own conscience.
* I can regret that even though cabinet, the department's management and I
heard "irregular" and not "unauthorised" and we heard "condonation" this
committee found otherwise.
* I can regret that this Committee judged the AG on the theoretical work that
AG's do and not on specific exchanges made, but I must live with the fact that
this matter has been determined on the Balance of Probabilities.
* I can regret that the Committee did not probe my mind to determine whether I
made an honest mistake in interpreting what the AG said, but I must live with
the finding that it was deemed "incorrect".
* Ultimately, I can have many reservations about the report and its
conclusions, especially those that say I knowingly made incorrect statements.
However, I have great peace in my heart, that I did not compromise my integrity
and that I did not lie to this house.
Be that as it may, at the end of the day, I might have contributed to all
the misunderstandings that led to this report. This has indeed been an episode
filled with misunderstandings, filled with the imprecise use of words like
"assurance" and "recommend", "irregular" and "unauthorised" and it has been an
episode that also had its inconsistencies in what was said in what forum.
I appreciate that the ad hoc committee did not conclude that I misled the
house.
I must resolve to do my part to rebuild trust and respect for, and among,
the institutions of the legislature, the auditor general and the
executive.
The question I ask myself is whether this is similar to the occasions where I
needed to apologise for pensioners not getting their pensions, for Thobeka
Madayi dying in a wheelbarrow, or for being drawn into a racial paradigm with
the invocation of the word 'coconut'? I don't think it is the same in its
detail, but I was a participant in a series of misunderstandings that led to
institutional tension and mistrust.
I cannot speak for others, only myself, and, therefore, honourable
chairperson of the ad hoc committee, in response to your advice, and in
bringing finality and closure to an unfortunate episode, I apologise for
anything I said that led to the conclusions of the ad hoc committee and for
resultant tensions in key institutions that make up our constitutional state.
At the end of the day, those issues are bigger than the pride and the ego of a
premier.
Mr Speaker, thank you very much.
Issued by: Western Cape Provincial Government
28 November 2007
Source: Western Cape Provincial Government (http://www.capegateway.gov.za/)
